Flowering Shrubs

A flowering shrub earns its place twice: it does the structural work of a shrub, holding a boundary, filling a border, anchoring a corner, and then covers itself in colour on top. This collection is for gardeners choosing plants that need to perform a job in the garden's framework as well as look good doing it.

Match the shrub's mature height to its role before you fall for the flowers. Border fronts want compact growers in the 0.5 to 1 metre range, mid border and foundation plantings suit 1 to 2 metres, and hedging or back of bed positions call for 2 to 3 metres or more. For flowering hedges, be realistic about the trade off: every trim removes future flowers, so clip once immediately after the main flush finishes and you keep both the shape and next season's display. Evergreen shrubs carry the garden's structure through winter, while deciduous flowerers often repay their bare months with heavier, showier blooming, and the strongest borders mix the two.

• Prune spring bloomers straight after flowering, as they set next year's buds on this summer's growth.
• Summer and autumn bloomers can be cut back in late winter instead, since they flower on new wood.
• Plant repeat flowering varieties where you pass daily, near doors and paths, and save single season showstoppers for viewing distance.
• Three of one variety grouped together reads as a single generous drift and always beats three different singles.

If your interest runs to perennials, climbers and the full flowering spectrum beyond shrubs, our flowering plants page takes a season by season approach to the same range. Two of the most dependable flowering hedge and feature shrubs in Australian gardens are covered in our camellia care guide and gardenia care guide. Planning a full flowering hedge run? Measure the boundary and let the hedge calculator tell you how many plants to order.